The Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) reports that aiming at realizing the potential of the region for expanding intra-regional trade through trade promotion, the 5th ECO Business Forum took place in Uzbekistan’s capital, Tashkent, on November 8 under the framework of the 16th ECO Summit.
Jointly organized by the Chamber of Commerce & Industry of Uzbekistan and ECO Secretariat, the business forum was reportedly attended by the delegates from Chambers of Commerce and Industry of the nine ECO member nations, including high level representatives of public and private sectors of the ECO region as well representatives from the international organizations and international financial institutions.
While addressing the forum, the Deputy Secretary-General of ECO, Mr. Kashif Zaman, highlighted the need for more regional integration to boost intra-regional trade through trade liberalization, trade facilitation and greater connectivity. He shared that the intra-regional trade has been recorded at from USD 96.5 billion in 2022 which is less than 8 percent of ECO trade with the world, at USD 1 trillion 118 billion in global trade.
Mr. Zahid Hussain Abbasi, Director Trade & Investment gave a detailed presentation to the participants and invited them to play their role in implementation of important ECO Agreement in trade. Introducing the operationalization of the ECO Agreement on Protection & Promotion of Investment, he invited business community to make full use of the agreements.
The participants reportedly expressed the need to operationalize ECOTA, ECO Reinsurance Company & Visa Sticker Scheme for businessmen. The speakers also suggested a greater focus on development of digital trade & SMEs to contribute to regional trade and joint schemes to develop Regional Value Chains.
The forum was also addressed by the representatives of the public sector, speakers from Chambers of Commerce and Industries, International Organizations and ECO-CCI etc, according to the ECO’s official website.
